Eva Svankmajerova: 1940 - 2005

The Czech Republic lost one of its finest artists this week, Eva
Svankmajerova: writer, painter, and Surrealist artistic collaborator with
her husband Jan on numerous mixed live-action/stop animation films
including the award-winning "Little Otik" in 2000. Over
forty-five years Eva and Jan Svankmajer became inseparable on the Czech
arts scene. They collaborated on deeply visceral works that echoed the
darkness of totalitarian life as well as life in general, hiding and
subsequently revealing surfaces beneath surfaces: sexuality, corruption,
hidden violence, and sporadic beauty.

"Eva Svankmajerova gained notable public attention in the
mid-60s
through a number of cycles that marked a return to the use of figure in
painting - the 'New Figurative Painting' - a response to earlier
abstraction. A number of artists took this route but Eva Svankmajerova in
particular began relying on 'narrative' in her paintings to tell certain
stories working in particular with symbols.

In her case, the use of symbol and the connection to inner
imagination and
the subconscious were extremely personal. In one series, the 'Emancipation
Cycle' she deconstructed famous paintings, famous nudes, by replacing the
female subjects with men. That series made use of light irony and sarcasm
and was one that really ensured her place on the Czech scene."

Also in the 60s Eva Svankmajerova began collaborating on her husband's
films. Surrealism, says Jan Kriz, was a logical next step:

"Her work with visual metaphors later brought her into the
Czech
Surrealist school - she became an active part. Czech Surrealists like Mrs
Svankmajerova - like others before them - were interested in a return to
inner feeling, motivation, fantasy, the subconscious."

In her husband's films, Eva's vision melded together with Jan's, often
reflecting dark visions of oppression but also black sarcasm in response
to the totalitarian regime.

"The freedom of inner imagination provided methods of dealing
with
extreme social pressure. An example is the work of Surrealist poet
Vratislav Effenberger. It reacted with intent to outside pressures, but of
course with fairly complex metaphorical structures. 'Answers' are not
obviously stated on the surface, but are felt on deeper levels."

Eva Svankmajerova completed one final project before her death,
collaborating on one last film with her husband Jan. Titled
"Lunacies" it will premiere in Prague next month - an
epitaph to
Eva Svankmajerova's life and work. Eva Svankmajerova was 65.